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Posts by benszymanski  

Joined: 29 Feb 2008 / Male ♂
Last Post: 24 Mar 2010
Threads: Total: 8 / Live: 1 / Archived: 7
Posts: Total: 465 / Live: 73 / Archived: 392
From: małopolskie
Speaks Polish?: Yes
Interests: weight training, internet

Displayed posts: 74 / page 1 of 3
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benszymanski   
24 Mar 2010
Language / Learning Polish, good for beginners? [29]

Totally agree with SzwedwPolsce. I have never had a formal Polish lesson, mainly because I lived in the countryside for the first couple of years and didn't know of any tutors. I am self-taught from books and courses and from having lived in Poland for a while now. I also found this forum a great help for answering my grammatical questions.
benszymanski   
24 Mar 2010
Law / My Great GrandMother was born in Poland sometime before 1915 - any chance for Polish citizenship? [37]

Great GrandMother

what year did she leave Poland? As per wikipedia at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_nationality_law:

"Citizenship can generally be claimed only by descendants of Polish citizens who left Poland after the country became an independent state in 1918. Also, there can be no break in Polish citizenship between the emigrant ancestor and the descendant. If the applicant's ancestor lost Polish citizenship, the descendant did not inherit Polish citizenship through that ancestor."
benszymanski   
12 Feb 2010
UK, Ireland / CAN'T ACCESS THE LLOYDS TSB WEBSITE FROM POLAND [8]

If you want access to the BBC iPlayer (and any other UK web TV services) then you can join up for the British In Poland VPN Server for a tenner a month:
benszymanski   
29 Jan 2010
News / Poland's supreme administrative court rules against RHD cars [57]

On Wednesday Poland's highest court upheld an earlier decision that Poland doesn't have to allow right-hand drive cars to be registered in Poland.

English story here: britishinpoland.com/blog/2010/01/poland-again-refuses-rhd-cars/

Looks like this issue won't be resolved until it goes all the way to EU court...
benszymanski   
1 Sep 2009
Australia / HELP! Australian wanted to apply for Polish Passport via ancestory [51]

Yes, I went through this. My grandfather changed our surname back in the '50s and I changed mine back again a couple of years ago.

The problem is that in the UK (and I presume this is similar in Australia) is that a Deed Poll is validated only by a witness, and is not the result of a notary/court/USC office decision as is required in Poland. Therefore you have to show that the name change was done in accordance with the UK/Australian law to prove the Deed Poll is valid.

To do this you need to get an "apostille" for your document. In the UK this involves having your document certified by a solicitor, then getting an apostille from the British Foreign Commonwealth Office, then getting it all translated into Polish by a certified Polish translator.

I documented my case on my blog here if it's any help. british in poland/blog/2008/08/getting-a-british-deed-poll-recognised-in-poland/

I expect in Australia you will have a similar process.
benszymanski   
20 Aug 2009
Language / Funny/strange/deviant words in the Polish language [35]

Here's another strange thing I noticed in Polish - words such as "biznesmen" to mean a businessman. For some reason they adopted the plural "men" and not "man" which doesn't seem that logical to me. Same thing with "supermen" where you hear things such as "on jest supermenem".

I guess that the reason for this could be that "men" is the more natural sound in Polish, but then how comes they went with "man" in barman and barmanka?
benszymanski   
19 Aug 2009
Language / Funny/strange/deviant words in the Polish language [35]

but the Polish use the name for an umbrella

and ironically "umbrella" which in English we use to shield from rain comes from the latin "umbella" meaning "shade, shadow".
benszymanski   
14 Jul 2009
Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]

clearly his mother's citizenship would need to be confirmed before she could pass it on to her children

Yes agreed, I am not saying that his mother's citizenship will not need to be confirmed - it will, just like my father's must be too - but I don't believe that means his mother has to do an application herself. It just means when he does his application they will first have to check his mother. I am sure it would therefore be more convenient for them if his mother does an application but I don't believe that is a requirement.

I don't believe either that the different districts can interpret the rules that differently either, and as I say, my application is going through fine (albeit very slowly).

I have come across a couple of cases of Polish passports being claimed two generations down but none of 'my grandfather was Polish so I automatically am too', it's always been 'my grandfather was Polish which makes my father Polish so I am too'.

again, agreed.
benszymanski   
14 Jul 2009
Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]

Possibly, but I think unlikely. Doesn't make sense that his mother has to confirm her citizenship in order for him to himself. This would mean he is denied his citizenship in the case that his mother doesn't want to do her application.

However if they were both going to do applications anyway then it would make sense for the mother to do hers first.
benszymanski   
14 Jul 2009
Law / Polish Citizenship for a foreigner whose parents was born in Poland [174]

your mother would need to claim her citizenship and then you can claim yours.

I don't think that is necessary. I am in the process of claiming my Polish citizenship from my grandfather, but my father has not claimed his (nor has any interest or intention to do so).

I applied in Krakow about a year ago with what they said should be a relatively straightforward case and am still waiting....
benszymanski   
23 Jun 2009
Life / Are foreigners welcome in Poland? [267]

I imagine even in the most tiny village most people would have had some contact with people from other countries

Out in the countryside it's rare to see non-Poles. Where I live I don't know of any other foreigners and have not met any other than the odd tourist. Therefore it's rare to hear people speaking English on a phone etc.. and I usually find someone will stare at me when I do.

Sometimes I find this a bit rude, but I put it down to bewilderment and ignore it.
benszymanski   
29 Apr 2009
Love / What do Polish girls think about Gypsies? [116]

filthy stupid criminals from India

So who are those beggars that hassle me in the street when I am in England or Poland? They look Romanian to me, not Indian.
benszymanski   
21 Apr 2009
Law / Poland - Temporary Residence card - Karta pobytu - required documents [142]

and to get the Meldunek I need to ...? Take my landlord WITH me for the interview?

No, I think you are confusing two seperate processes - zameldowanie and karta pobytu.

To get your zameldowanie you need your landlord (either written consent to live at the address or him/her in person depending on what mood they are in at the office).

To get your karta pobytu you need to demonstrate you are self-sufficient which usually requires that you either show a recent bank statement with some money in it or demonstrate that you possess credit cards etc.. etc..
benszymanski   
11 Apr 2009
Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

mafketis - veering off the thread a little - I know both your English and your Polish are red-hot. If I remember from some of your other posts you are a linguist by profession. What other languages do you speak and which one(s) are your native tongue(s)? Hope you don't mind me asking - just wondering...
benszymanski   
11 Apr 2009
Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

That'll be throw then, language language my dear fellow.

Whoops - fingers going faster than brain today. God knows where 'through' came from, doesn't even sound like 'throw' [or 'werfen' if we're in German mode... :-) ]
benszymanski   
11 Apr 2009
Language / Polish was chosen the HARDEST LANGUAGE in the world to learn... :D [1558]

Just to through my two grosze in, German is/was my second language (haven't spoken it for a while) and Polish I only started a few years ago as my 3rd.

It's true that in German you have to learn the gender when you learn the word, because in general you can't tell what gender it is from looking at it (apart from the -chen ones I mentioned).

In Polish you can correctly guess the gender 95% of the time, but you still need to learn the word's various grammatical forms because lots are irregular. For example you learn the word for hand - ręka, but then you have to know that it changes to different forms such as ręce, rąk etc..

Personally I think that German is MUCH easier for an English speaker to learn because it is much more closely related to English, the rules aren't as complicated (e.g. no perfective, imperfective, frequentive, determinate, inderterminate, no funny number stuff etc.. etc..) and in general there are fewer irregularities.

Also German makes strong use of compound nouns, so when you see a long word you don't know it's normally just comprised of 2 or 3 simpler words and you can guess the meaning - e.g. "autobahnbruecke" is made up of car, way (as in motorway or railway) and bridge - thus you can guess it means a fly-over.
benszymanski   
31 Mar 2009
Language / I need advice - how long does it take to learn Polish? [70]

I have been pretty well immersed in Polish (no English speaking friends/colleagues/neighbours, no English TV) and in my case I would say about 3 years. The first two I was actively learning and studying. The last year or so I haven't studied much but just look up new vocab here and there.

My brain hurt for probably the first 18 months - hang in there!
benszymanski   
4 Mar 2009
Language / The Polish language - it's bloody hard! [210]

All because the English never have introduced diacritical marks to ease the pressure...

And because we have had so many influences on the language - old English, Norse, German, French, Latin...

Plus nobody says words the same way anyway. For example "house" as said by a Londoner and a Scotsman is totally different, so which way is "correct" anyway?
benszymanski   
3 Mar 2009
Life / Polish Organizational Skills [83]

number system for queuing was broken

wow! I am amazed they even have them. The only place I have ever seen one in action in Poland was at Ikea in Kraków, very surprised to see the post office has got them. So it looks like progress is slowly being made...!
benszymanski   
4 Feb 2009
Law / Poland - Temporary Residence card - Karta pobytu - required documents [142]

in a language other than the official language

Personally I agree. I think the UK has gone too far in publishing council leaflets in 20 different languages...

What is a karta pobytu interview?

I don't think there is normally an interview, but I had an extra complication in that I also have (currently still unconfirmed) Polish citizenship. I was summoned to Krakow for an interview about it.
benszymanski   
4 Feb 2009
Law / Poland - Temporary Residence card - Karta pobytu - required documents [142]

Even if they can speak English, they more than likely won't

In fact they are not allowed to speak English during the interview. When I had my karta pobytu interview he asked if I was OK to conduct it in Polish. I half-joked that his English was probably better than my Polish so I don't mind if he wants to talk in English. He said that he is required to conduct the interview and all formalities in Polish anyway and that if necessary a translator is required and it's my responsibility.